mimicry

noun

mim·​ic·​ry ˈmi-mi-krē 

plural mimicries

1

a

: an instance of mimicking

b

: the action, practice, or art of mimicking

… entertained his family with mimicry and comic skits.

—Cynthia Ozick

2

: a superficial (see superficial sense 2b) resemblance of one organism to another or to natural objects among which it lives that secures it a selective advantage (such as protection from predation)

Examples of mimicry in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Heat mimicries are a dime a dozen at the movies — The Town, Den of Thieves, Crime 101. —Roxana Hadadi, Vulture, 14 May 2026

Schoenbrun is not going for kicky mimicry here — literalism is not their chief aim. —Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 13 May 2026

But butterfly mimicry goes far beyond those uses to include scattering light to replace toxic paints or as an anti-fraud mechanism against counterfeiters, advancing optical computing, and even creating superior eye implants. —New Atlas, 6 May 2026

Pichai was particularly blown away when DeepMind’s AI system AlphaGo played a brilliant, novel move in the strategy board game Go against champion Lee Sedol in 2016, revealing that AI could think creatively and beyond mere mimicry. —Andrew R. Chow, Time, 6 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1671, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Kids Definition

mimicry

noun

mim·​ic·​ry ˈmim-i-krē 

plural mimicries

1

: the action, art, or an instance of mimicking

2

: a resemblance of one living thing to another or to natural objects among which it lives that gives it an advantage (as concealment or protection from predators)

Medical Definition

mimicry

noun

mim·​ic·​ry ˈmim-i-krē 

plural mimicries

: an instance of mimicking something